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Hope in Hard Times: Therapy for Individuals and Families Affected by Cancer

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samantha

a close up shot of ribbons in different colours

Who is Kate?

Kate has been informally counselling and caring for people who are at their most vulnerable for over 25 years as a Registered Nurse. She decided to formalise this by becoming a counsellor 5 years ago.

With her own personal experiences with family illness and the experiences of many others who she has helped throughout her Nursing career, she has gained an understanding of the complexities of the varied emotional, physical, and mental challenges that we face in our daily lives, when we are faced with illness and our diverse individual responses.

Kate works predominantly with people who are living with life limiting illness such as cancer and motor neurone disease and the different layers of loss and grief and life adjustment that comes with these illnesses. Kate works with children, carers and anyone who has been affected by life limiting illnesses.

Episode Summary

  • Kate shares about what a life-limiting illness is such as cancer or motor-neurone disease.
  • I ask Kate about how she landed working in this space, which began as her working as a nurse.
  • We discuss the benefit of people not having to educate their therapist.
  • Exploring what brings this cohort to therapy, we discuss the area of grief and loss.
  • Kate shares about the vast range of areas that cancer impacts such as sexuality, body image or finances.
  • We explore how everything in a person’s life comes to the surface when a diagnosis is received.
  • Kate shares about medical trauma and medical gaslighting that can occur, as well as the physical impact of treatments.
  • I ask Kate about toxic positivity and the stigma attached to the areas. We talk about how this doesn’t need to be difficult to talk about.
  • Kate shares the frustration around people saying, ‘I know how you feel’. Why this is not a helpful thing to say and boundaries around conversations.
  • We discuss what it is like for the loved ones and carers. The mental load that they carry and the way that changes relationship dynamics.
  • I ask Kate about how she navigates talking about death, and why it is one of her favourite things to talk about.
  • We discuss how Kate works with children who have parents facing a shorter lifespan and why we both have an issue with the term ‘resilient’.
  • I ask Kate what it is like for her as a therapist working with people who are dying, we normalise being real with our clients and how she supports her own wellbeing.
  • Kate talks about what it is like Inside the Therapy Room and surprisingly how it involves a lot of humour.
  • We normalise that there are no good or bad emotions and the power of naming their emotions.
  • Finally, Kate smashes a myth around this people with cancer/life-limiting illness and this one is super practical for everyone.